280 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
ceived about the defenses of Diego Suarez was wholly inaccurate. 
To me this was not surprising, knowing the source from which 
the information came. 
The navigation of the whole convoy of something like forty-six 
ships into the shoal-studded Courrier Bay on a dark night was a 
brilliant feat, and it was exciting to be on the small boat that gave 
the navigators their final bearings. The French had considered 
such a landing by night impossible, and were therefore taken 
completely by surprise. Our Command had thought that once we 
had overcome these coastal defenses the rest would be a walk- 
over, and that the whole operation would be completed in a day. 
The main defenses were against a frontal attack, whereas this 
maneuver was by the back door. 
The unexpected resistance caused the High Command to waver. 
After the fall of Diego the possibility of proceeding in two con- 
voys, one to the port of Majunga on the west coast and the other 
to the port of Tamatave on the east, to capture the rest of the 
island, had been considered. 
At this juncture nothing could have been more simple, but the 
High Command was apprehensive and thought that a bigger and 
more highly organized effort was necessary to capture the major 
portion of the island, which was, in effect, defenseless. We know 
what this cost in time, but the cost in money and wastage of 
manpower was incalculable. 
The delay played right into the hands of the Vichy Govern- 
ment and therefore the Germans, and no time was wasted on 
their part in working out defensive delaying tactics, so that 
when the next attack came the capture of the rest of the island 
(1,000 miles long) would be a long and costly business for the 
Allies. 
Six months later I found myself in a large convoy making its 
way to Majunga. Another headed for Tamatave. 
There was not much real fighting but there was plenty of scope 
for the delaying tactics demanded by Vichy. Bridges were blown 
up, but this caused little delay. What was far more serious was 
that where a single road passed through miles of inundated rice- 
